Improvement in tuckers for sewing-machines



s. OAKLEY. I Tucker's for Sewing-Machlnes.

Patented March 25, 1873.

AM PHora-mmsRAmm ca mrfimamz mum's) UNITED STATES PATENT Orrron.

JOSEPH S. OAKLEY, OF PASSAIO, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN TUCKERS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 137,232, dated March 25, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH S. OAKLEY, of Passaic, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tucking Attachments for Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1 represents a plan of my improved tucking attachment applied to the cloth-bed of a sewing-machine, and in relation with the presser-foot and needle-bar thereof, together with a piece of fabric in the course of being tucked. Fig. 2 isa side view of the same, from the month end or side of the tucker; Fig. 3, a partly sectional similar View, in part, showing the tucked fabric in position; and Fig. 4, a sectional view at the line av 02. Fig. 5 is a plan of the tucked fabric as it comes from the machine.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention consists in an automatic tucker for sewing-machines, as hereinafter fully described.

A represents the cloth-bed of a sewing-machine, of which a is the front edge, B is the resser-foot, and O the needle-bar, with needle attached. D is the folder-bar, arranged to rest upon the right-hand or cloth-feeding side of the bed A, and to project in front of the latter. Said bar is of a strap-like construction, having its fold at the end furthest from the cloth-bed, and being open at its inner end. It may be secured to the bed A and held in position thereon by a set-screw, b, and jog c; or, instead of the jog, it may have a stud on its under side, arranged to enter a hole in the cloth-bed. E is the folder, resting upon the upper leg or arm of the bar D, and capable of adjustment in or out along the bar by means of a set-screw, d, and slots 0 c in the bar and folder. Said folder is elastic, and considerably overhangs the inner end of the upper leg of the arm D also is or may be made of a gradually diminishing thickness at its inner end f, Fig.1, from its mouth or re ceiving side toward the presser-foot, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4, to provide for the easy rendering of the fabric G over it, and to give a sharp crease or fold on its delivery side, for the proper forming of the tuck and sewing of the seam by the needle. Such inner edge f, too, is out of parallelism with a back guiding-edge, 9, (see Fig. 1,) of a sliding guide, H, adjustable along the folder, to counteract the varying draft on the fabric due to its fold over the tapering edge f, and thereby insuring a parallel effect or action on the fabric at its line of fold. Furthermore, the folder E, with its attached sliding guide H, are set up on the receiving side of the tucker, sloping downward toward the presser-foot B, and so that a line drawn from the receivingside of the tucker centrally between the folder E, or under side of the sliding guide H thereof, and the upper side of a sloping table, I, adjustable on the cloth-plate under the lower leg of the bar D, would intersect the cloth bed at the point or place where the presserfoot first comes in contact with the cloth on the bed. This is more particularly represented in Fig. 4; and its object is to turn up the lower portion of the fabric relatively to the upper portion, as depressed by the presserfoot. K is a sliding stop, adjustable along the slot 6 in the upper leg of the bar D, andprojecting up through the slot 0 in the folder E, for the outer end of said slot to strike against when the folder is shoved forward. This stop K is held in any required position along the slotted portion of the bar and folder, by means of a set-screw, h.

[n the operation of the whole device, the back edge g of the guide H is set as far back from the front or inner'end f of the folder E as" corresponds with the distance of the space between the seam and tuck. The folder E, with the guide H, is then shoved inward or forward past the line of the needle a distance equal to the required width of the tuck, and the stop K adjusted to arrest the folder. In the "making of each new tuck, the fabric is guided by the seam of the previous tuck sliding against or along the back edge 9 of the guide H. When tucking skirts or other like articles,the folder E is shoved back until its screw strikes the stop to admit of passing the end of the seam or finishing the length of it left between the folder and needle.

M is an automatic stretchingroller applied to the upper surface of the fabric as it passrs over the top of the folder. This roller is carried by a spring-arm, N, so as to bear with an elastic pressure on the fabric, and is arranged to occupy an oblique position across the fabric relatively to its feed, as more-particularly represented in Fig. 1, and whereby it produces draft on the fabric to keep the latter stretched in its passage over the folder. The spring-arm Nis made capable of turning in its hearing or point of attachment to the lower leg of the bar D, in order that the roller may be swung back out of the way when it is required to enter the work.

it will be seen that the plane of the folder is raised or inclined to the plane of the table or cloth-plate, and has its folding-edge placed obliquely to the line of the seam. The edge of the folder is placed obliquely to the line of the seam, because it is desirable to have the delivery edge of the folder as thin and sharp as practicable, in order to deliver the fabric to the presser-foot creased down as fiat as possible. This is especially desirable in running very narrow tucks; but if the folder is made thin and sharp at its receivingedge it is liable to crease the fabric too soon before the guide and stretcher have had time to adjust the fabric to the proper width. It is therefore desirable to make the receiving-edge of the folder thick and rounded, in order that the fabric may render easily over it, according as the guide may hold it below and the stretcher draw it above. But if the folder was thus made of diminishing thickness, as it approaches the presser-foot and parallel with the line of scam it would take on too much of the fabric at the point where it begins to fold; hence the necessity of making the edge of the folder just as much out of parallel with the line of the seam as shall make the distance from the guide around the edge of the folder and back to a parallel line just equal at the receiving and delivering edges of the folder, thus restoring a parallel effect. As regards the plane of the folder being inclined to the plane of the table or cloth-plate, the folder must necessarily be raised sufficiently clear of the cloth-plate to allow the fabric to pass freely between it and the plate, and the folder and guide, however thin they maybe, still occupy some space, and keep the upper and under folds of the fabric somewhat apart during the process of folding. Now, if the plane of the folder is horizontal or parallel with the plane of the cloth-plate, the two folds of the fabric being brought together by the presser-foot entirely from the upper side, the upper fold will not reach as far forward as the same point on the lower fold, and the fabric will then not be folded square, and will consequently pueker or draw. But if the plane of the folder is inclined to the plane of the cloth-plate just so much that a plane drawn through the center of the folder shall intersect the horizontal plane of the cloth-plate at the point where the presser-foot brings the two folds together, then the under fold is made to converge equally with the upper one, and the fabric will be folded squarely. It will also be seen that my device is susceptible of being made to stretch the fabric to any desired tension by tightening or releasing the spring and by swinging the roller more or less obliquely across the line of the seam, theobject of the stretcher being to draw the fabric around the edges of the folder sufficiently taut to keep the previously-stitched tuck up against the guide, and, as different kinds of fabric require more or less tension to effect that object, an adjustable stretcher is very desirable.

What is here claimed, and desired tobe secured by Letters Patent, isa 1 l. The combination of the folder-bar. D, the adjustable folder E, the adjustable stop K, the

sliding guide H, and the inclined table I, for arrangement in relation with the needle and presser'foot, substantially as specified.

2. The folder E and guide H, when said folder isof tapering thickness at its forward edge f, and inclined forwardly at its thinner edge, a

in combination with the adjustable inclined table I, all arranged essentially as described.

3. The combination of the movable or swim g in g spring-arm N with the obliquely-arrauged stretching-roller M, substantially as specified.

- JOSEPH S.OAKLEY.v

-Witnesses:

FRED. HAYNES,

FERD. Tosca. 

